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* As the Tribune reports today, Rep. Marty Moylan’s resolution calling on the General Assembly to “slow the process of legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois” now has 60 sponsors and co-sponsor, giving it a majority…
Tim McAnarney, lobbyist for Healthy & Productive Illinois, a nonprofit group opposed to legalization, said sponsors thought they could rush it through while potential tax revenue from marijuana is already being “promised 10 times over.”
“They thought it was a slam-dunk, but it’s not,” McAnarney said. “They need to slow down.”
But state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat and chief sponsor of legalization in the chamber, said the issue has been debated for years, with four public hearings, 11 town hall meetings, more than 100 stakeholder meetings, with many more to come. Sponsors recently began meeting with the staff of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who supports legalization, to hash out details of the issue.
“There’s nothing rushed about this at all,” Cassidy said. “This has gotten way more attention and scrutiny than pretty much anything I’ve ever seen worked on here.”
In reality, McAnarney doesn’t want it slowed down, he wants it stopped, as do many of Moylan’s co-sponsors.
The opposition is using a “go slow” argument when nothing whatsoever has been fast about this bill’s process.
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:10 am
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Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Sheesh.
Comment by Gruntled University Employee Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:15 am
I’m disappointed by this.
It seems again
Moneyed interests win.
Comment by Honeybear Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:15 am
These stake holder meetings being conducted have too many cooks in the kitchen. I can’t decide if this is JB’s team purposely slowing down the process so that they get the appearance of workin’ on it, while they secretly hope the process gets derailed by having too many conflicting problems. Or if they truly believe that in order to pass this thing they need to have every voice heard. I’m pretty sure of Cassidy ran her bill the bill shes been working on for years, she could garnish 60 votes in the house. I think its time to side step the Govs working group and just ram this thing through, or else it will never happen.
Comment by Iggy Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:17 am
===side step the Govs working group and just ram this thing through===
With what juice? This is exactly the sort of reasoning that’ll get the bill killed. Let it play out.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:19 am
If the sponsors want to slow things down a bit, then maybe that should smoke some. I recall time slowing down quite a bit on the devil’s lettuce back in college.
Comment by Phenomynous Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:19 am
This seems a direct challenge to Newton’s First Law of Motion: How do you slow down a body at rest?
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:24 am
‘Slinger,
See Newton’s 3rd Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Comment by Flat Bed Ford Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:29 am
“Go slow” is just an excuse to not legalize. We’ve known about marijuana and its effects for years. These legislators want to continue an utterly broken system and have all of the sales revenue go to the black market. They are also behind the times on the public’s will.
Pritzker should just expand MMJ to cover lots of illnesses and conditions, if full legalization isn’t going to happen.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:30 am
Grandson…Agreed, just put in general and chronic pain and everyone is good to go.
Comment by Are Ya Kiddin' Me? Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:37 am
The only thing that has been studied more is a Chicago casino.
Comment by levivotedforjudy Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:38 am
–For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.–
Like a non-binding resolution?
Whole lotta nothing going on.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:43 am
You could easily replace every instance of the word marijuana in the resolution with alcohol and every fact would remain. So when will all these Reps sponsor an alcohol prohibition bill?
Comment by TopHatMonocle Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:43 am
I don’t agree here, but in general not a bad approach, I prefer a wrap to papers.
Comment by AiH Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:45 am
==These stake holder meetings being conducted have too many cooks in the kitchen.==
That’s how these big bills go–every interested party gets a voice. Concealed carry, med mar, eavesdropping, police reform, etc. It generally works surprisingly well, since each voice has different expertise/knowledge/concerns.
Comment by Leslie K Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:46 am
Newtons second law; an impulse occurs when a force acts over an interval of time
Comment by Rabid Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:50 am
As has been pointed out, they don’t want it slowed down, they want it stopped. At this point. if you want reform in Illinois and you’re not contacting your reps to let them know, I guess that’s on you. Simply posting online won’t cut it. Committee hearing is next Tue., March 26 at 4:00pm.
Comment by XonXoff Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:56 am
Going to make for an interesting few weeks for the marijuana folks if people are pushing against this.
I have to agree that it sounds a lot like the Chicago casino that’s been going on for the last 10 years.
Comment by DuPage Bard Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 11:58 am
A lot of Reps are frustrated Pritzker is spending his political energy on this when what they want is a capital bill
Comment by Fax Machine Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:00 pm
Meh. This is the play-in game, the tournament won’t start until they get a bill. I hope they reserve a very large room for the hearing. It’s going to be a doozy.
Once the dust settles though and members can react to actual legislation, I suspect Moylan’s 60 will soften considerably. Until then, it’s just a place holder.
Comment by 47th Ward Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:07 pm
I think reps are concerned that this legislation will be rammed through just like minimum wage, take it or leave it. Sure there has been public discussions but is this bill going to be another take it or leave it bill? I support making sure we are doing things right.
Comment by Scott Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:14 pm
“They need to slow down.”
con·cern trol·ling - n. the action or practice of disingenuously expressing concern about an issue in order to undermine or derail genuine discussion.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:18 pm
Pritzker needs to aggressively pursue adding medical conditions to the med mar law. For instance, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is very effectively treated by cannabis, but is not on Illinois’ list. Expand the med mar conditions list ASAP!
Comment by RIJ Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:21 pm
If the facts aren’t in yet to support prohibition they never will be
Comment by Rabid Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:21 pm
“just put in general and chronic pain and everyone is good to go”
Thankfully patients who could be or are taking opioids for chronic pain can now get MMJ cards. That part is a blessing.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:23 pm
===and everyone is good to go===
Not if your doctor won’t cooperate. And you just can’t go to a pot doc in this state. It has to be a doctor you’ve been to for a couple of years.
Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:29 pm
This don’t smell right, big marijanna joining Prohibitionist to end homegrown for a win-win ?
Comment by Rabid Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:31 pm
After the yellow light comes the green light, right?
Comment by vole Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:33 pm
I think you’re right Rabid.
Comment by Honeybear Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:36 pm
“It has to be a doctor you’ve been to for a couple of years.“
Not true now and still not true under HB895. The definition of bona fide relationship does not require this.
Comment by Ali Nagib Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:56 pm
Slow it down?? Hard to imagine that. It only looks fast now because of how long we’ve stood still.
Get it to the floor and blow through these silly games. They’re ready to pass it. So pass it.
Comment by A guy Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:56 pm
A lot of the democratic support for this resolution is probably softer than most would assume. The republican support for it is to be expected, but a lot of the democratic co-sponsors are very much in it to be able to say to their aging and terrified suburban and collar county constituents that they tried to do something.
Comment by NomChompsky Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:58 pm
If Illinois got this implemented in a timely manner, before the neighboring states do, it could reap some decent revenue from Missourians, Kentuckians, Hoosiers, Iowans and Wisconsinites who would come here to buy their pot. Maybe even Tennesseans, Arkansans, Minnesotans and Michiganders. But knowing Illinois, it’ll take another year or two for this to go into effect.
Comment by Southern Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 1:01 pm
I thought “go slow on pot” describes how you drive while high.
Comment by Sir Reel Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 1:07 pm
“The definition of bona fide relationship does not require this.”
Now under the opioid program, thankfully a second visit can constitute a bona fide doctor-patient relationship. It’s nuts that patients can go to doctors forcthe first time and get prescribed deadly opioids but have to jump through more hoops than necessary to get marijuana, which is not deadly in and of itself. It’s part of lingering Reefer Madness.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 1:12 pm
I wish that many sponsors and cosponsors would vote for going slower on some of the big risks that the agricultural industry imposes on us with lax regulation and little oversight and monitoring. But legislators know not to mess with THE special interest.
Comment by vole Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 1:27 pm
- Rabid - Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 12:31 pm:
This don’t smell right, big marijanna joining Prohibitionist to end homegrown for a win-win ?
Stinks to high heaven…and I believe you are right…this seems to be totally about customer base.
This is an attempt to recoup initial investment costs…by forcing the public to purchase marijuana from a monopoly…period.
If you grow your own… you “profit”…and that’s the problem?…The “stakeholders” don’t.
Comment by Dotnonymous Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 2:11 pm
I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. This was one of the biggest proposals of the Pritzker campaign and as McAnarney notes, the revenue from this is already being counted on by the administration. Not getting this done would be a major black eye for JB, and I don’t see him allowing that to happen
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 2:21 pm
Going slow isnt the same as opposing, i imagine a few of these sponsors will be hitting the green button when it goes on the big board and maybe even hitting the green when Pritzker signs legalization into law
Comment by frisbee Friday, Mar 22, 19 @ 4:09 pm